T1135 T1161 Filing Calculator for Foreign Property Penalties
Estimate only, for planning purposes — not a substitute for a review of your actual situation. T1135 threshold is based on subsection 233.3 of the Income Tax Act (cost amount over $100,000 CAD at any time in the year; exempt in your first year of Canadian residency under section 233.7). T1161 threshold and the 60-month short-term resident exclusion follow subsections 128.1(4)(b)(iv) and 128.1(6) — property you owned before becoming a Canadian resident is excluded from both the departure tax and the T1161 list itself if you were a resident for less than 60 months in the 120 months before departure. This calculator doesn't account for every asset class (e.g. personal-use property under $10,000, foreign affiliates requiring Form T1134 instead of T1135) — those need a direct review.
Own foreign property and not sure which form applies, or already past the deadline? Talk to us.
This T1135 T1161 filing calculator exists because both forms carry the same kind of penalty for getting them wrong — and the rules for each are easy to mix up.
Form T1135, the Foreign Income Verification Statement, exists so the CRA can see foreign assets that might otherwise generate unreported income. Any Canadian resident — individual, corporation, trust, or partnership — who holds specified foreign property with a total cost over $100,000 CAD at any point in the year has to file it, alongside their regular return.
Specified foreign property includes things like foreign rental real estate, offshore bank accounts, and foreign shares held outside a registered account — it does not include property used personally, like a vacation condo, or anything inside an RRSP, TFSA, or similar registered plan. One exception that’s easy to miss: you don’t have to file T1135 for the calendar year in which you first became a Canadian resident.
Form T1161, the List of Properties by an Emigrant of Canada, applies at the other end — the year you cease to be a Canadian resident. When you emigrate, the CRA deems you to have sold almost everything you own at fair market value on your departure date, and T1161 is the inventory list that supports that calculation, required once the total FMV of your eligible property exceeds $25,000 CAD.
The detail most summaries leave out: if you were a Canadian tax resident for less than 60 months in the 120 months before you leave, any property you owned before you became a resident is excluded from T1161 entirely — it doesn’t count toward the $25,000 threshold, and there’s no departure tax on it. Only property you acquired while living in Canada counts. This is a genuinely valuable exemption for recent immigrants who end up moving on within a few years, but it only protects pre-immigration property — anything bought during your Canadian residency is fully taxable on departure regardless of how long you were here.
Both forms carry the same penalty structure for late filing: $25 per day, with a $100 minimum and a $2,500 maximum, per form, per year — charged even if you owe zero actual tax. That’s why it’s worth checking whether either form applies well before your filing deadline, rather than assuming no tax owing means nothing needs to be filed.
